Comparison of Sterling vs Cimbria windshields

[Peter]

I am 99% sure the Cimbria and the SS have the same screen, so pilkingtons are the only people doing them and we had the buck made and MellOrman on the EOC forum has had one fitted OK.

Details are;
Contact is called Peter Swann.
Email Address is Peter.Swann@nsg.com
Screen number;

 

[Sterling 007]

Im taking my stock broken windshield to a local glass / windshield whse and see if they can match
it up for me, even if its larger, they can cut it down as long as it has the same curve etc.

 

[Sterling 007]

I know it is possible, and this proves my theory

 

[farfegnubbin]

Let us know how that works out/what you find out. People have talked for years about cutting down a larger windshield but we’ve never seen it actually successfully done. It would be a cool option if it’s possible.


So you know, we still have a source for new windshields that are made for the Sterling. They are expensive but they are gorgeous. (And they fit.)

 

[Sterling 007]

Its very do-able, you just gotta find someone with a decent inventory willing to take the time

 

[farfegnubbin]

For a while I was obsessed with finding a way to cut down a Sterling windshield to be used in a Cimbria or modified Sterling and/or cut down a windshield from a whole different donor to be used in a Sterling. Being able to do so would open up a lot of neat options.

I found a few good videos on YouTube similar to that one you linked to which mainly show people chopping a windshield in one dimension (using that scribe-and-fire technique,) often along one straight line or a slight curve without curved corners, etc.

I love watching those artisans work their magic. That said, even those experts said that you should plan on having two or three windshields on hand because there’s a high probability of it breaking in a funky way. And that was for those projects in only one dimension and without curved corners. (I realize that the video of that Saab windshield had curved corners but they didn’t really show how they were doing it or the result.)

I think the chance of successfully crafting a Sterling windshield from something like a big windshield from a minivan is very, very low, at least doing so by scribing and controlled-breaking.

I wish we could grind, cut, or otherwise mill them to shape.

Car windshields are a unique challenge because the glass is brittle and the safety laminate in the middle is pliable plastic. It’s difficult to cut dissimilar materials like that.

I still wonder if there is some tool or equipment out there — maybe diamond tooling with water cooling — that could be used to cut a clean border. It should exist but I certainly haven’t found it. My thinking is simple: I know that the edges of windshields for production cars can’t be perfect coming out of a hot mold and therefore there must be a tried-and-true method of trimming edges and therefore we should be able to borrow from that methodology and trim edges how we want.

But I haven’t found a way yet (and frankly have found work-arounds for the projects I was thinking about at the time.)

But getting back to those videos, that scribe-and-fire technique is fun to watch. Very clever, and they make it look simple. Don’t you love-hate people like that?

 

[B57-1974]

Yes, I know this is an old thread, but it seems that if a source could be found to create Cimbria windshields, it would also be a source for Sterling windshields. I have replaced my Sterling windshield in the past and I seem to remember a fairly large seating area. If a one quarter inch smaller windshield was placed in there, it would surely work, yes?

 

[Brett Proctor]

There is a source for both.
Sterling windshields you can get from the owner of this site

Cimbria windshields you get from
https://sterlingkitcars.com/index.php?threads/cimbria-body.2041/page-2#post-24011
(post #25 gives you the info, Thanks Sector)

 

[letterman7]

Yes, I know this is an old thread, but it seems that if a source could be found to create Cimbria windshields, it would also be a source for Sterling windshields. I have replaced my Sterling windshield in the past and I seem to remember a fairly large seating area. If a one quarter inch smaller windshield was placed in there, it would surely work, yes?

It's not the overall size, it's the curvature. Farfegnubbin never followed up with this thread; IIRC we (he and I) had taken a Sterling windshield and placed it over top of a Cimbria windshield and the curve was ever so different. Enough that even though the Cimbria is slightly smaller, there would be a gap at the top where the glass doesn't meet the body. It's been a number of years since we did that. Hopefully he'll hop on and confirm that.

 

[farfegnubbin]

Yes, I know this is an old thread, but it seems that if a source could be found to create Cimbria windshields, it would also be a source for Sterling windshields. I have replaced my Sterling windshield in the past and I seem to remember a fairly large seating area. If a one quarter inch smaller windshield was placed in there, it would surely work, yes?

I had to read that two or three times to make sure I was getting the main gist. I was originally confused as to why someone would want to use an even-more-rare windshield as a substitute for a Sterling windshield. I think your point — as a thought experiment — was along the lines of “Although the Sterling windshield seems slightly too large for the Cimbria frame, perhaps a Cimbria windshield would fit believably into a Sterling frame and might therefore be usable as a ‘universal donor’ for windshields.”

Some thoughts:
1) Although the extra gap might only add about 1/4 inch to the top and bottom borders, the borders on the side are more like 5/8”. (See below) To me that’s way too much space to be filled in with just urethane sealant or whatever. I wouldn’t want that for one of my cars unless there was absolutely no other option.

2) There are sources for both of these windshields. Please realize that it costs $15,000-20,000 to get a company to make a mold for a new windshield, and that’s even if they take on the project for a small run of windshields. I know that it sucks that the price of windshields is a bit salty. But it’s because they aren’t economically sensible to produce in tiny quantities. The cool thing about all of these cars is that there are very few unique parts that you can’t just buy inexpensively at your local store. Unfortunately the windshields are rare and unique and expensive. But thanks to Fuzz and fate we can still get excellent replacement windscreens for the Sterling and the Cimbria.

Letterman7, you’re right that that was a long time ago! I had to read back over my own posts to remind myself how that all turned out. In the first page of this thread I have the photos of laying Fuzz’s Cimbria SS windshield onto the windshield of my red Sterling. The three of us that night determined that the borders were different but the curvature fit perfectly together like two spoons nestling together. So the Sterling windshield has the same convexity as the windshield for both flavors of Cimbria. In subsequent years someone posted pics confirming that the windshield of a Gen II SEBRING is a little more deeply convex than the Sterling and Cimbria windshield.

But let’s loop back to the original thought which is: The most sensible, esthetic, and cost-effective strategy is to use the available Sterling windshield for the Sterling and the (thank goodness) available Cimbria windshield for the Cimbria. The only caveat to that is to say that IF someone overseas still makes a windshield for the Eagle SS AND you can get them to ship it AND it costs less to ship it overseas than from the States, cool, have at it.

Part of the cost of ownership of a Sterling or Cimbria is to embrace the reality that the windshield costs $1200-2000 and that shipping costs for a big fragile expensive object really suck.

 

[sector]

Getting Eagle SS windshield from overseas wasn't too bad. If I recall, the windshield was about $500 + $250 for crate and shipping. The customs fee was another $150, bringing the total to $900, which was very reasonable. But that was about 7 years ago, so expect to pay significantly more today.

Also unless you are within driving distance of US supplier, expect to pay similar shipping cost as it does need to be properly crated.

 

[letterman7]

Getting Eagle SS windshield from overseas wasn't too bad. If I recall, the windshield was about $500 + $250 for crate and shipping. The customs fee was another $150, bringing the total to $900, which was very reasonable. But that was about 7 years ago, so expect to pay significantly more today.

Also unless you are within driving distance of US supplier, expect to pay similar shipping cost as it does need to be properly crated.

Well, one thought that might not be an issue: is the Eagle glass DOT compliant? I doubt not. Both the Sterling and Cimbria glass are. In states that require inspections they will be looking for that certification mark.

 

[sector]

It's automotive laminated glass. It's no different than imported cars from Europe.

 

[Brett Proctor]

Let me see if I got this story straight.
A member needs a new windshield for his Cimbria.
He contacts Fuzz, but Fuzz is no longer selling them. ( I assume it is Fuzz that he contacts)

Looks like I'm going to have to make my own windshield. The gentleman who was doing them won't do them anymore. He says too many people burned him and he's tired of it.

So Sector gives him a company's name that makes them,but its outside of the country.
What else is he suppose to do to get one? He has no other choice but to get it from outside of the country.

Please correct me if I have the story wrong.

 

[farfegnubbin]

Thanks for embedding that quote from the other thread, Brett. I was so intrigued about trying to identify that odd Cimbria that I didn’t see the owner’s brief post implying that Fuzz might not be a source for the Cimbria windshield anymore. That would be new news to me. Hmm. I’m gonna do a little follow-up behind the scenes for my own edification. It might be that Fuzz doesn’t want to broker them if he had bad experiences with people not following through, etc. But there’s presumably still a mold out there, State-side, which he might grant access to as a solution for Cimbria owners.

For clarification, I think it would be awesome if there really is an affordable source for that windshield from overseas. With domestic freight costing $300-500 just to travel a few states away I’d be amazed that something big and fragile could come across the ocean for less money. But that would be great!

The DOT aspect hadn’t crossed my mind. Hmm. That isn’t a crazy concern. Unfortunately a lot of regulations don’t operate on common sense. I bought headlights from a UK junk yard through EBay a while back and there was a question as to whether an inspector would fail them in my state. I was told that, technically, if it wasn’t stamped DOT then they would fail BUT that it might boil down to the discretion of the individual inspector on that day.

But anyway, I’ll try to re-confirm the State-side source.

 

[sector]

This was my invoice. Today's currency exchange rate is even better than what I paid which might be advantageous.

 

[farfegnubbin]

Interesting! Nice find!

 

[Brett Proctor]

Well, one thought that might not be an issue: is the Eagle glass DOT compliant? I doubt not. Both the Sterling and Cimbria glass are. In states that require inspections they will be looking for that certification mark.

Interesting comment
I thought all sterling windscreens (at one time or another) came from Pilkington, which is located in the UK.
The Cimbria/Eagle windscreen comes from the same place. So why wouldn't it be USA certified.

Pilkington is a major manufacturer of windscreens globally and has been given the green light by DOT to make windscreens for the USA.
I don't know where Fuzz was getting his windscreens made so I couldn't check their certifications.

Glass manufacturers

carglass.ee

https://windshieldstore.in/blog/ais-saint-gobain-or-xyg-windshield-which-is-better/

https://unece.org/DAM/trans/main/wp29/wp29wgs/wp29grsg/grsginf/81/grsg81_inf07.pdf

 

[letterman7]

Interesting comment
I thought all sterling windscreens (at one time or another) came from Pilkington, which is located in the UK.
The Cimbria/Eagle windscreen comes from the same place. So why wouldn't it be USA certified.

Pilkington is a major manufacturer of windscreens globally and has been given the green light by DOT to make windscreens for the USA.
I don't know where Fuzz was getting his windscreens made so I couldn't check their certifications.

Glass manufacturers

carglass.ee

https://windshieldstore.in/blog/ais-saint-gobain-or-xyg-windshield-which-is-better/

https://unece.org/DAM/trans/main/wp29/wp29wgs/wp29grsg/grsginf/81/grsg81_inf07.pdf

Sterling glass is made for a US company overseas, but it isn't Pilkington. Fuzz's Cimbria glass is completely US made, but I never checked to see if it was DOT stamped or not.